Padres’ Darvish tops players for Saturday, July 29; Astros’ Abreu tops AL players

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
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Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Darvish struck out nine over six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 4-0 win over the Rangers.

Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 41st among all players and 21st among National League pitchers.

Darvish also now has 131.0 career Box-Toppers points, 39th among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 38th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4). Darvish ranks 12th among active players in career points, sixth among active NL pitchers.

American League Player of the Day

Jose Abreu of the Astros hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-3, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 17-4 win over the Rays.

Abreu earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 2.7 for the season, 52nd among AL batters.

American League Player of the Day is Jose Abreu of the Astros.

National League Batter of the Day

Marcell Ozuna of the Braves hit two home runs, doubled and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-5 win over the Brewers.

Ozuna earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.0 for the season, 12th among NL batters.

National League Batter of the Day is Marcell Ozuna of the Braves.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Saturday because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Jose Abreu.

Aaron Judge of the Yankees is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Orioles.

Notable

Aaron Judge of the Yankees has the most 2023 Box-Toppers points among Saturday’s 15 Player of the Game winners.

Judge (HR 3-5 2R 2BI in the 8-3 win over the Orioles) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 8.5 for the season, 22nd among all players and second among AL batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (17.4).

This is Judge’s first Box-Toppers point earned in two months. He last earned Player of the Game honors May 29 (earning 1.5 points as AL Batter of the Day), which at the time, put him in sixth place in overall player rankings. However, despite the time passed, Judge was still in second place among AL batters at the end of May, trailing Ohtani.

This was Judge’s second game (and first Yankees win) since returning July 28 after missing nearly two months on the injured list. He tore a ligament in his right big toe on June 3 crashing into and toppling a fence at Dodger Stadium while making a catch.

Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Saturday’s win over the Twins.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Saturday, July 29.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 dh pi sp ana al 17.4
2 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 13.1
3 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 13.0
4 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 12.7
5 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 12.4
6 Burnes, Corbin 4029 pi sp mil nl 11.7
7 Bautista, Felix 4668 pi cp bal al 11.0
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 10.7
9 Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 10.7
10 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 10.4
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Also notable

Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Saturday.

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Witt (HR 3B 4-5 2R 3BI in the 10-7 win over the Twins) was also AL Player of the Day Friday in the 8-5, 10-inning win over the Twins (GS 2B 4-5 2R 6BI). He earned 1.7 Box-Toppers points Friday and 1.0 point Saturday, giving him 5.2 for the season, 13th among AL batters.

Debut

Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Saturday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

  • Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan (5IP 2H 0R BB 5K ND in the 3-2 win over the Reds) made his Major League debut June 16 and was playing in his seventh career game.

  • Endy Rodriguez of the Pirates (3B 2B 2-4 2R 4BI in the 7-6 win over the Phillies) made his Major League debut July 17 and was playing in his 11th career game.

Scoring

  • Darvish earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Abreu earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Ozuna earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Saturday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers

Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

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Box‑Toppers Player of the Game winners

Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).

7/29 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +10.0 SD 4, TEX 0 Yu Darvish (W, 8‑7) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 3 0 0 2 9
+7.2 `SF 3, BOS 2 Sean Manaea ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.2 2 0 0 0 5
+7.0 `LAD 3, CIN 2 Emmet Sheehan ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 2 0 0 1 5
BAT +6.0 ATL 11, MIL 5 Marcell Ozuna DH 4 3 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
AL +6.0 HOU 17, TB 4 Jose Abreu 1B 3 3 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+6.0 CHW 7, CLE 2 Mike Clevinger (W, 4‑4) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 5.0 2 0 0 0 3
+5.2 DET 5, MIA 0 Joey Wentz (W, 2‑9) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.2 4 0 0 1 6
+5.0 TOR 6, LAA 1 Alejandro Kirk C 4 3 3 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.1 ARI 4, SEA 3 Kevin Ginkel (W, 4‑0) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 1.1 0 0 0 0 3
+4.0 KC 10, MIN 7 Bobby Witt Jr. SS 5 2 4 3 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+4.0 PIT 7, PHI 6 Endy Rodríguez C 4 2 2 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+3.0 OAK 11, COL 3 Seth Brown 1B 3 1 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 NYY 8, BAL 3 Aaron Judge RF 5 2 3 2 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 WSH 11, NYM 6 Jeimer Candelario 3B 3 2 2 1 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+2.0 CHC 5, STL 1 Jameson Taillon (W, 5‑6) ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 1 1 4 4
MLB—Overall Box‑Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box‑Toppers points.
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box‑Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box‑Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box‑Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
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Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s Player of the Game winners

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total in 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Judge, Aaron 3767 rf cf dh nyy al 8.5 21.7 40.7 51.9 -4.7
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp sd nl 7.0 23.8 62.4 131.0 -9.8
Witt, Bobby Jr. 4592 ss kc al 5.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 +3.2
Ozuna, Marcell 3190 dh atl nl 5.0 7.5 26.5 54.2 +2.5
Clevinger, Mike 3707 pi sp chi al 4.0 10.4 43.5 57.9 -2.4
Candelario, Jeimer 4025 3b dc nl 4.0 8.0 19.0 19.0 0.0
Brown, Seth 4239 lf 1b oak al 3.5 7.0 13.5 13.5 0.0
Ginkel, Kevin 4830 pi mr cp ari nl 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 +3.0
Taillon, Jameson 3658 pi sp chi nl 2.7 13.4 34.8 48.8 -8.0
Manaea, Sean 3637 pi mr sp sf nl 2.7 8.7 38.8 52.9 -3.3
Abreu, Jose 3308 1b hou al 2.7 5.2 30.2 51.2 +0.2
Wentz, Joey 4639 pi sp det al 2.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 -1.0
Kirk, Alejandro 4353 ca dh tor al 1.0 4.0 7.5 7.5 -2.0
Rodriguez, Endy 4887 ca pit nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
Sheehan, Emmet 4886 pi sp lad nl 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 +1.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Sunday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
TOR Berrios, Jose 3791 7.4 16.4 57.3 66.3
MIL Rea, Colin 3582 3.0 3.0 3.0 6.7
ATL Smith-Shawver, AJ* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PHI Sanchez, Cristopher 4850 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
PIT Hill, Rich 2215 4.0 11.7 32.4 83.2
DET Skubal, Tarik 4414 2.0 12.7 21.4 21.4
MIA Luzardo, Jesus 4282 13.1 17.1 29.2 29.2
WSH Williams, Trevor 3792 4.0 7.0 22.7 27.7
NYM Verlander, Justin 2112 6.0 32.0 84.6 238.6
CLE Civale, Aaron 4173 3.0 8.0 25.4 25.4
CHW Kopech, Michael 4385 7.0 16.0 21.7 21.7
MIN Maeda, Kenta 3609 5.7 5.7 39.2 59.2
KC Yarbrough, Ryan 3962 1.0 3.0 35.1 35.1
TB Littell, Zack 4533 0.0 2.0 4.0 4.0
HOU Bielak, Brandon 4297 4.0 4.0 8.0 8.0
CHC Hendricks, Kyle 3386 3.0 7.7 39.8 71.6
STL Matz, Steven 3516 2.0 7.4 29.8 46.4
OAK Medina, Luis 4876 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
COL Blach, Ty 3754 0.0 2.0 4.0 8.0
BOS Bernardino, Brennan* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SF Alexander, Scott* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CIN Ashcraft, Graham 4645 2.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
LAD Grove, Michael 4774 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
SEA Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 6.4 16.4 52.8 61.2
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 8.0 19.0 34.0 34.0
TEX Bradford, Cody* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Snell, Blake 3688 6.7 19.8 72.1 81.1
NYY Severino, Luis 3567 3.0 9.7 30.4 56.5
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 6.7 14.4 18.1 18.1
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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